Students bring textile recycling program to Natick schools

In their Natick High School classes, Adrienne Arthur and Jacob Wainer have learned about the importance of recycling.

By Brian Benson/Daily News staff

MetroWest Daily News, Framingham, MA

By Brian Benson/Daily News staff

Posted May. 2, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 2, 2013 at 2:04 AM

By Brian Benson/Daily News staff

Posted May. 2, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 2, 2013 at 2:04 AM

NATICK

» Social News

In their Natick High School classes, Adrienne Arthur and Jacob Wainer have learned about the importance of recycling.

Now, the 18-year-old seniors are bringing a program to town they hope will convince classmates and the public to look more closely at what they throw away.

"There’s no reason not to recycle," Wainer said. "If you’re cleaning your house, why not help the Earth?"

Arthur and Wainer, as part of a senior internship program, have worked with Bay State Textiles to place bins at every school and other locations where people can drop off unneeded clothes, bedding, shoes and other textiles to be recycled. The bins arrived this week.

Arthur said 520 million pounds of textiles are sent to an incinerator or landfill in Massachusetts each year. Yet 95 percent of textiles can be recyled or reused. Bay State, according to its website, accepts textiles in any condition so long as they are clean and dry.

Natick’s school district will earn $100 per ton of textiles dropped in the bins, though Superintendent Peter Sanchioni said the goal of the program is to encourage recycling, not to make money.

Sanchioni credited Wainer and Arthur with approaching school officials about the idea. They presented the program to the School Committee, which endorsed it last week.

Paul Curry, of Bay State, said the company works with Framingham’s recycling center on textile recycling and hopes to expand to other MetroWest districts.

"I found a huge demand all over the world for this material," Curry said. "Most textiles U.S. citizens discard every year are being thrown away."

Textiles are shipped to places such as Central America, where many are re-used as clothing. Clothes that cannot be repaired are used as cloths to wipe down machinery. Some synthetic fiber clothing is shredded and reused in carpet padding, insulation and other projects, Curry said.

Wainer and Arthur said they hope the program lasts for many years. Their teachers plan to pass it on to other students after they graduate from Natick High in June.

"Just by having this bin, you can start to make a difference," Arthur said.

Brian Benson can be reached at 508-626-3964 or bbenson@wickedlocal.com.